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The Formation and Dissemination of Research Methodology on Korean Classical Literature through Analyzing the Academic Journals and Reading Classes Organized in the Department of Korean Language and Literature of Universities during 1950's - focusing on the Text research and the formation of Canon

  • The Research of the Korean Classic
  • 2010, (22), pp.457-493
  • Publisher : The Research Of The Korean Classic
  • Research Area : Humanities > Korean Language and Literature > Korean Literature > Korean classic prose

Keysook Choe 1

1연세대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Korean universities were reorganized during 1950's as a modernistic system. Then the department of Korean Language and Literature were divided into three parts; Korean classical(pre-modern) literature, Korean modern literature, and Korean language. Especially the part of premodern literature began to make its own identity with a series of reading class regarding classical texts and also began to demand the unique academic ability of literacy on the classical texts. The most basic step to approach the research on the classical literature was the analysis on the text; What is the original text or authentic text? Which text is the prior text? and What is the canon most of all? Such process implied some problematic academic issues; selecting the text, possibility of approaching and using on the research materials, literacy regarding such classical text, expertise on the reading methodology regarding translation and interpretation and final decision on the canon, etc. The Korean old-type printed novels were the items which were red in reading class and also were researched to discern which was the original version prior text or canon. At that time such novels were reading amongst the public as a interesting popular books. However such genre of old-type printed novels regarded as classics according to being regarded as textbooks in the university classes. They were endowed an academic position related a sort of change of cultural position. Originally the old-type printed novels had been considered as a vulgar popular genre, a sort of sub-culture or peripheral genre until 1950's. However such text began to treated as research objects in the university class by the professors and lecturers. Through such process, Korean old-type printed novels were regarded as classical genre, different from the peripheral popular ones. Finally, they got to be called as the classics. A lot of professors and researchers contributed some classical texts in the academic journals, literature magazines and the other periodicals as form of photoprints and original texts with notes and annotations. The public readers began to considered such texts tributed in the contemporary periodicals. In short, the research on the premodern texts began to bring the power which made them to be considered as classics amongst the university students and public readers through the professors's lecture of reading class and contributions for the periodicals. The public could such text as a sort of classical novels with translation versions or with annotations. Finally the such text began to be considered canon with literary-historical orthodoxy.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.